July | 2013 | Seasoned with Life

Wordless Wednesday

July 31, 2013 at 7:35 pm | Posted in Chicken, Chicken Noodle Soup, Main Dish, My Own Creation, Soups & Stews, Supper, Wordless Wednesday | Leave a comment

Spices – very necessary!

Bring chicken and spices to a boil; cover and put in oven for 2 hours

Let the chicken cool or else you’ll burn your fingers!

Nice and shredded!

Back into the pot

Add the veggies and extra wide egg noodles; boil for about 8 minutes

Mmmm, it smells heavenly!

Grab the crackers, time to eat!

Home!

July 31, 2013 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Dehydration, Faith, Home, Hospital | Leave a comment

He’s home!

The doctor came in this morning and asked him if he wanted to go home and he said, “Yes!”

They couldn’t find anything WRONG except that he was severely dehydrated. I’ve never heard of these symptoms for dehydration but from now on, whenever I see this man, I better see a glass of water in his hands.

He went into the door from the garage, followed by Daniel and then I brought up the rear; then I tripped and ended up on the floor. My knees broke my fall – doggone it, who decided to have ceramic tile in this kitchen? OUCH! I can’t take Tylenol or typical pain meds, but since my back started hurting, I took my pain meds that the doc gave me for my spinal stenosis. Hope it works.

I’ve got chicken in the pot, going to make a small pot of chicken noodle soup for my sweeties for supper. I’m tired and relieved.

Thank You, God, for allowing my honey to feel well enough to come home!

Thank you all for your prayers 🙂

Tuesday Night

July 30, 2013 at 7:47 pm | Posted in Carrie Underwood, Faith, Hospital, Husband, Music | 4 Comments

Spent most of today up at the hospital and watched my husband sleep. He wasn’t really awake even when he was awake, which is good, because that means that the pain meds are helping him. Finally, he can rest.

Now if only they’d find out what’s causing the pains and severe nausea he’s been having….

Tonight sitting here listening to my iPod, Carrie Underwood’s song, “Who Are You?” came on and it touched my heart because I know that God is watching over all of us.

I couldn’t copy and paste the lyrics – but here’s the link for those of you who don’t recall them.

Thank you all for the prayers.

Patty

Monday…Another Long Day.

July 29, 2013 at 9:14 pm | Posted in Hospital, Husband, Jim Brickman, Lady Antebellum, Music Video | Leave a comment

My sweetheart is in the hospital.

God-willing the doctors will be able to figure out what’s wrong.

I was sitting here listening to my iPod when this song came on…tonight, I dedicate it to my beloved.

Lady Antebellum and Jim Brickman, “Never Alone”

Sunday Night Musings

July 28, 2013 at 9:22 pm | Posted in Emergency Room Visit, Hospital, Husband, Musings | Leave a comment

It’s been a long weekend. Hubby went to the family doc again on Friday and she said he did NOT have pneumonia.

I ended up taking my beloved to the ER on Friday night. We were there for TWO HOURS before we were able to get to the back, and then we waited ONE HOUR to see the doctor.

Then it was one mistake after another. Hubby has rotten veins and they have to use an ultrasound to get a good IV in. Well, guess what? The first one, the nurse put in on the bend of his right arm and it FELL OUT.

So, the second nurse came in to put another one in. Apparently this is the nurse who is in charge of the program of training other nurses to do these specialized IVs. He put the IV in near hubby’s wrist. Then he left and the ER nurse was able to give him another dose of pain meds.

Within about 10 minutes, hubby noticed that the IV was starting to hurt. His wrist was starting to SWELL.

He called the ER nurse and she had to take it out. So much for the pain meds.

The doctor had supposedly spoken to another one of hubby’s docs and they decided which tests to do – but then the hospital computers went down – and everything came to a complete HALT.

By then it was after 11:00 and I went in search of the doctor to find out what was going on. He FINALLY came in to talk to us at nearly midnight with no idea when the testing could start, on account of the computer problem, the fact that there was no IV in my husband’s arm….

It was then that hubby said, “I want to get out of here!”

I tried to convince him to hang on but he was very upset at being poked and prodded TWICE for IVs that fell out. He was exhausted and grumpy and so was I. Finally, he asked the doc for a prescription of pain meds to get him through the weekend and we drove home. In the FOG.

It was so foggy I could barely see at times. By the time we got home – we live an HOUR away from the hospital – I was shaking and near tears. My mom was there; we had called her to come spend the night with Daniel. She was sleeping in his room while Daniel was sleeping in our room. Hubby climbed in bed with the teen and I crawled into Daniel’s room to sleep on the mattress on the floor.

*sigh

By then it was nearly 2:00 a.m.

The next morning I went to the pharmacy to fill the pain med script. Guess what? The ER doc wrote it WRONG. And since it’s a narcotic, it couldn’t be corrected by fax or phone call. I called our family doc – who was on call – to see if she could meet me at her office to write a new script but she was in OKLAHOMA.

Oh. My. Gosh.

So, I called the ER we had been in the night before to see what we could do….I knew that hubby wouldn’t want to go back and going to the ER here in our small town would be more of a nightmare than the one Friday night…..

Well, God smiled on me, because there was an incredible guy in the ER named Tom that worked a MIRACLE for us. He worked it out and found out that there was an ambulance transporting a patient and once the EMTs were finished with their job, taking care of the patient, they’d be going to the ambulance station and Tom would have an ER doc fill out a CORRECT script and give it to the EMTs and they’d give it to me once we met at the station.

And that’s exactly what we did. Tom called me once the EMTs called him to say that they were in route to their station, so I tore out the door and met them there. After checking my ID and asking me what I needed and who it was for, they gave me the script. Then I raced to the pharmacy – it was closing in half an hour – and got hubby his pain meds.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I should have gotten Tom’s last name so I could present him with a gold medal or something.

Tomorrow we go back to the hospital for SCHEDULED scans and a doctor visit. God willing, the doctor will find out what is wrong. He’s in serious pain, very uncomfortable, unable to eat – he’s barely eaten in over a week. We’re continually offering him water or soda water or milk or Diet Pepsi to drink so he doesn’t get dehydrated. Poor guy, he’s got both me and his son picking on him about drinking.

I just want him feeling better.

*sigh

Mexican Hash

July 28, 2013 at 9:02 pm | Posted in Corn, Hamburger, Hash, Mexican Food, My Own Creation, Potatoes | Leave a comment

This is just something I threw together…I think I shall call it Mexican Hash, since it reminds me of corned beef hash.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound hamburger (more or less)

1 small potato, peeled and diced

Dash of McCormick Onion Powder

Dash of McCormick Garlic Powder

Dash of McCormick Cumin (we call in comino in Spanish and it has to be in meat dishes for an authentic Mexican taste)

Dash of McCormick Cilantro Leaves (definitely needed in a Mexican dish)

Dash of salt

1 tbsp. canola oil

1/2 can Green Giant SteamCrisp Super Sweet Yellow & White Corn (save remaining corn for another meal)

1 can (10 ounces) Rotel Mild Canned Tomatoes and Green Chiles OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Ignore the second potato in the picture; once I had started, it was determined that one would be enough 🙂

Brown hamburger and spices in the canola oil over medium heat.Add the potatoes, then stir in the Rotel Tomatoes and Chiles along with the corn.Let the mixture bubble for maybe 8 minutes, until the potatoes are done, but not soggy. Serve with cheddar to shred on top; I needed some sour cream since the dish was a bit spicy. I wish I had some pinto beans; they would have been an excellent addition to the dish, plus they would have taken away some of the spiciness, too. Daniel couldn’t believe it when I told him we didn’t have a single pinto bean in the house. Such a rare occasion 😦

But, it was still yummy!Oh, yes, and don’t forget the tortillas – Mom’s are the best!

5 Minute Friday: Broken

July 26, 2013 at 2:41 pm | Posted in 5 Minute Friday, Broken | 4 Comments

My brain is distracted with worry over my husband and his pneumonia, but I’ve decided to take a break and do my 5 Minute Friday. For the rules, visit Lisa Jo Baker’s webpage.

Time to stop thinking and time to write…this week’s word prompt is BROKEN.

This week I feel broken. My heart is breaking for my husband. You see, he has kidney cancer. And for those of you who don’t know, kidney cancer does not go into remission. It can go into hiding for a while, just like his did. When he was diagnosed, he had his right kidney removed and we thought that was the end of the story. But it wasn’t. The cancer came back in his left tibia (knee) and after radiation, that cleared up but then it was discovered in his lungs. And he has a questionable spot on his pancreas.

He’s got pneumonia this week. Again.

He feels broken, too, I’m sure. I’ve been trying to get him to nibble on food that he doesn’t want; trying to get him to drink, drink, drink anything and everything so that he won’t get dehydrated. He is probably tired of me telling him to eat and drink. He is probably tired of this pneumonia and the cancer and everything that goes along with it.

The only reason we aren’t totally broken is that we have Faith. We know that somehow, no matter what, God is in control. This is so hard to hang onto sometimes but we have to trust Him. Without God, there’s no point in continuing.

So, maybe instead of being broken, we’re just bent. Again. How far can a person bend before they break? I don’t know. We’ve been bending back and forth since 2007. Bent up and down, back and forth, every which way but we’re still hanging on. To each other. Most especially to God.

STOP.

Thursday Night Musings

July 25, 2013 at 9:13 pm | Posted in Cancer, Pneumonia | Leave a comment

Didn’t do much for supper tonight. Remember the chili burgers from the other day? This evening I just made myself chili dogs. Daniel didn’t want hot dogs or chili dogs, so he had some Ramen noodles. Then part of a sub sandwich that I had bought at the store.

Nobody feels much like eating this week. My hubby has pneumonia. Again. He hasn’t felt well since last Friday and has barely eaten since Saturday. I took him to the family doctor on Tuesday and she gave him some heavy-duty antibiotics. I’ve been pushing fluids on him: Diet Pepsi (even though it has caffeine); water; soda water; milk. He’s eaten some crackers, cereal, chicken noodle soup and fruit.

He goes back to the doctor for a follow-up and I’m worried that she’ll send him to be admitted to the hospital.

It sucks to have cancer. All it takes is anything – a cold – the sniffles – and BANG! Pneumonia. I’ve lost track of how many times the poor guy has had it. He just had it in March.

So, I want to ask you all to please pray for him. It’s so hard to be a wife and see my beloved so ill.

Thank you.

Cats, Cats, Cats

July 25, 2013 at 11:50 am | Posted in Acrobatic Cats, Cat: Boots, Cat: Stripey | Leave a comment

I think they were jealous that Shadow got a whole page yesterday for Wordless Wednesday and decided to be acrobats, so that I could click pics and add them to today.

Both cats will walk along the stair rail. The top of the steps is where they are in each picture but as the stairs go down, the further it is to the floor. The rail next to the French doors at the back of the house is open all the way to our finished basement….and yes, they will jump up to that rail and walk all the way to where they perch.